Lesson learned: Don't go bicycling in Chicago when the wind is strong.
We here in Chicago are just starting to get that front of bad weather that kept Montana and Wyoming so miserable yesterday; the worst of it's coming this weekend, but even today the wind was up in my neighborhood to a good 20 or 30 miles per hour (30 to 50 kph). And I learned something very important today about bicycling in such weather, too; that when such wind was to my back, I was able to cover 2.5 miles (4 km) in 10 minutes, an unheard-of rate for me, while the return trip (with the wind in my face) took an unbelievable 35 minutes, including a half-mile of walking my bike because I was about to throw up from overstressing my system. Man, who knew that the wind could have such a profound, profound effect on how efficient one's bicycling might be? Anyway, lesson learned: don't go bicycling when the wind is whipping around at 30 miles per hour!
